Conversation over Coffee
by weir'wyvern-85
Summary: When Merlin walks into Granny's diner, he finds a boy sitting by himself at one of the booths and decides to talk to him, and their conversation leads to a small discussion on magic. Oneshot.


**{I do not own either show, sadly.} Set sometime before Snow and Emma get back, and after the end of Merlin. Just a short one shot because after watching Merlin for so long, I just kind of dislike how evil OUAT has magic being portrayed, and really—when Henry tried to destroy magic, didn't anyone think of a young Uther, if not as evil. **

The jingle of the bells hanging over the door to the diner sang as someone pushed their way in the door. If anyone cared enough to check who had entered, they would have seen a lean man with dark hair hanging over bright blue eyes. Over the young man's dark blue shirt he wore a worn brown jacket and red scarf, boots covering his feet.

He walked up to the counter where a dark haired girl with red strips in her hair was leaning with a notepad in front of her.

"Hey sweetie, what can I get you?" she asked, looking him over.

"Can I get some Coffee?" he asked uncertainly.

"Sure. Cream or sugar?" she asked, not bothering to write the order down.

"Um…. Both?" Merlin shrugged and she smiled.

"It'll be a minute, I'll bring it out to you".

"Thanks" Merlin called out to her as she walked to the back. He leaned against the counter, waiting and looked around the café. It was surprisingly busy for the middle of the morning—the time when most people would be at work or school.

One boy in particular looked like he should be in school rather than a diner, mostly supported by his school uniform. The kid was sitting slumped forward in a booth, a mug of something steaming in front of him even though it was warm out, and a large book laying on its front pushed to the side.

Merlin looked around the café, but again no one was paying any attention to anything around them. The boy was apparently here alone, the workers not caring that he was skipping school… it was a school day wasn't it? Merlin shook his head and walked over to the kid.

"Hey, aren't you supposed to be in school… or something?" Merlin asked, taking the seat across from him.

"My teacher was sucked into a portal to another world" the kid answered "her and my mother"

Merlin nodded his head, though he had no idea what the kid was talking about.

"Here sweetie," the waitress said, sitting the cup of coffee in front of the young man before turning to the boy "Henry, don't tell strangers your stories, someone might take it the wrong way".

Her words sounded like she had said them time and again to the kid, but the tone behind it hid worry that had the kid looking up at the man sitting across from him.

"You're not from here, are you?"

Merlin shook his head "No, actually, I was just passing through while I was waiting on someone".

"Why are you traveling if you are waiting by them?" the boy asked.

"I'm not sure where he's coming back too" he answered "but that's not the point. What were you talking about, a portal?"

The boy moved his hand over to his book "Just a story I was reading, I guess"

"Some story…. It sounds magical…."

"I hate magic" the boy said, his tone broken and his gaze looking down at the table as though trying to break it in half with his anger.

"Well, that's…. that hurts" Merlin chuckled humorously, a hand placed over his heart, clutching the fabric of his jacket.

The boy looked up, his eyes wide "I thought you weren't from here?"

"How does that keep your statement from hurting?" Merlin questioned, taking a sip of his coffee.

"Magic…. It only exists…"

Merlin smiled. "I'm afraid you're a little misguided. Magic is everywhere, some places a little more noticeably than others, but it is woven so deeply into our world, you can go nowhere without it touching you"

Henry shook his head "Who…"

"I suppose the kind of magic the people of this place use is not found in any other place, but I assure you, it exists elsewhere"

"I don't understand. You have magic? Are you evil?" The boy pushed up agiasnt the back of his booth, grabbing his backpacks strap.

Merlin laughed "I'm not really sure anymore, I've lived for so long, made so many mistakes, but I don't think I've done anything to be called evil. I have encountered evil before though… and I can tell you, it comes in many people, not just magic users"

"Of course there's bad people without magic, but you can't deny that most of the worst are those with magic"

"I can deny that, actually. Just because people with magic can cause more damage with less effort—well seemingly less effort—it doesn't mean their hearts are any darker than the man who decided to kill three people before he was caught by the authorities"

The boy shook his head again "but it causes so much misery"

"So does hate" the boy looked shocked. "Let me tell you a story, since you seem so fond of them" he looked pointedly at the book under the boys hand "A long time ago, a great King presided over a beautiful Kingdom along with the love of his life. It was their greatest wish to have a child, but the woman was unable to conceive, so the couple decided to appeal to a witch, a friend of theirs…

"The mom died, because the witch took her life unjustly" the boy said gloomily "It's happened quite a lot, huh"

"That's what the King though, or rather fooled himself into believing, but that's not what really happened. The witch told the King and Queen the price of bringing a life into the world would be that of another life. Someone would have to die. The witch had no control over who the balance of magic would choose for the life of the Prince, but in the end, it was his mother.

The King was enraged, and he decided to eradicate magic, and to do so, he ordered the death of all those who practiced magic"

The boy looked at Merlin with wide eyes "He ordered for everyone to be killed?"

Merlin nodded his head "It was horrible, for years… the amount of death is nauseating, and he did not stop with those who practiced it, he went to any creature connected to the arts, slaughtered them. He was the reason for the death of dragons, all but one which he kept locked under his castle as a reminder to the world that none should cross him in such a way"

"What happened then?" the boy asked, looking frightened to find out.

"People hid, but continued to practice. Some tried to gain revenge, but failed. It lasted for a long time, the hiding and the killing. No one was safe, the wrong word against someone with the right backing behind it could have a normal person burnt or beheaded. Talking against the king ended similarly. His life ended at the hands of his daughter, another among many shunned magic users who were ruined by hate and fear. An ending I would not wish on anyone, even that man"

"Was magic accepted after his death?" the boy asked.

Merlin looked out of one of the diners windows for a minute, watching people walk by along the streets before looking back at the kid "Why don't you tell me"

Merlin stood up and put some money down next to the cup of coffee before moving to leave the diner.

"Wait," the boy called "My name's Henry, what's yours?"

"Merlin" he replied, not stopping as he opened the door.

"I hope you find whoever you're waiting on" he heard the boy call out as the door fell shut.


End file.
